Special District 9

In the dim interrogation room, Ah Long was seated on top of a metal chair, fiddling with his shackles that bound him to the chair quietly.

“Let’s get to know one another first,” Qin Yu took a sip of water before placing his tag in front of his chest. “I am Qin Yu, the leader of Platoon 1 Squad 3. I’m in charge of your case.”

Ah Long looked at Qin Yu with narrowed eyes before remarking, “I know you.”

“You know me?” Qin Yu was surprised. “Why do I not know you then?”

“I learned about you through a friend,” Ah Long replied leisurely. “But you probably never met me before.”

Ah Long’s words weren’t nonsense. He had indeed met Qin Yu before. He had been wanting to pay his home a visit before leaving Special District 9, so he had followed his younger brother quite a few times. He saw that Qin Yu was acquainted with his younger brother, and their relationship seemed to be quite close.

“Bro, the result of this case depends on not in who you know but the value of your confession,” Qin Yu changed the topic and spoke realistically. “You are the biggest fish we have caught in our net. If you don’t spit out someone bigger than you, you’ll be treated and dealt with as the main culprit. By then, even if the mayor is your direct kin, he wouldn’t be able to help you either.”

“Heh.” Ah Long looked at Qin Yu and chuckled softly to himself. “Bring a chair over here and sit beside me.”

Qin Yu was slightly taken aback.

“Don’t you want to chat? Come over then,” Ah Long rattled the chains on his hands as he beckoned Qin Yu over.

“Sure, let’s chat then.” Qin Yu pulled out a chair, placed it right beside Ah Long, and sat down on it. “You can speak now.”

“You know, even if I hadn’t met you through my friend, I would have still known your name,” Ah Long said with a smile on your face. “You’re Qin Yu, right?”

Qin Yu was taken aback for two seconds before asking, “Old Ma told you that?”

“That’s not it.” Ah Long raised his hand and pointed it at Qin Yu playfully as he said, “All of the medicine peddlers who are relying on my route have all heard of your name. They have been talking about you every single day since the crackdown started.”

“Talking about me?” Qin Yu’s eyebrows shot up.

“Do you want to know what they are saying?” Ah Long asked.

“What?”

“They are discussing how they should drag you down into the depths of hell!”

“…!” Qin Yu was stunned.

Ah Long glanced at the CCTV. He patted Qin Yu’s arm before continuing on with an even more suppressed voice, “Bro, you can’t be honestly thinking that Yuan Ke gave you this case because he appreciates you and wants to promote you?”

Hearing those words, Qin Yu scoffed coldly, “Not bad. You sure know how to incite bad blood even while sitting here?”

“Tsk tsk, you really are innocent like a child,” Ah Long shook his head before adding on, “Yuan Ke has so many loyal subordinates in Platoon 1, and which of them aren’t more experienced than you? Yet, why did he offer you such a huge case with great merits at stake? Are the two of you related by blood?”

“Then why don’t you tell me the reason why he chose to let me handle this case?” Qin Yu replied.

“That’s because you are dumb. You are still hungry. You know that you need to put your life on the line if you want to create a place for yourself here. You are new here. You don’t have any connections. You won’t give anyone face when you deal with the case…” Ah Long replied with a slight smile on his lips. “Why do you think they want to clear us, medicine peddlers and medicine smugglers, away? Do you know Yuan Ke wants you to bite firmly onto the Ma Family’s lead?”

Those words made Qin Yu fall silent once more.

“Recently, a group of medicine peddlers has been releasing small traces of medicine into the market. The prices they charge are twice of what we sell. Have you heard of that?” Ah Long asked again.

Qin Yu suddenly recalled what he had heard from Lin Nianlei and Tiger the other day

“Bro, care and concern do not come out of nowhere these days. From your perspective, it might seem like he values you a lot, but from another perspective, you are just a fool he’s using as a tool!” Ah Long tilted his head slightly as he looked at Qin Yu. “You should be aware of the fate of those who are used as tools, right?”

Qin Yu pondered for a long moment before raising a thumbs up, “You have a very persuasive argument. I’m impressed.”

“Heh, you know best what you truly feel inside,” Ah Long replied with a lowered head. “I’m not telling you out of inexplicable care and concern. It’s all because you have helped that friend of mine before.”

Qin Yu took Ah Long’s words with a grain of salt. He was already aware that Yuan Ke didn’t decide to ‘raise him up’ for no reason. However, be it whether Yuan Ke was making use of his hunger for success or that the other party was exploiting the fact that he knew no one in Songjiang to use him as a tool, these were actually nothing much.

Qin Yu wasn’t a child. He knew that without any backing, the only way he could live decently in this chaotic world was to make an exchange with others. He would need to display the courage and willingness to put his life on the line during crucial moments.

But what that caught Qin Yu off guard was how deep the waters surrounding the medicine trade was. While he was striking down on the Ma Family, there was another bunch of people secretly releasing their stock into the market, and these people were related to Yuan Ke!

If what Ah Long said was true, things wouldn’t be as simple as he thought.

“I am someone who is going to die very soon. There’s no need for me to lie to you,” Ah Long said with a lowered head. “I don’t know your background, but I heard that you are someone who made your way here from the Development District… Bro, it isn’t easy for us to come this far from the very bottom. Don’t let yourself become a pawn in the empire of another.”

Qin Yu looked at Ah Long for a moment before asking, “There’s one thing I don’t get. Previously, you and the Ma Family had a monopoly over the underground medicine market of Songjiang City. Why did you set the price of medicine so low? Are you planning to move the whole world with your kindness?”

“Heh, I had my fill and didn’t have anything better to do. I happened to recall that there’s a bunch of pathetic people struggling desperately back at the Black Street Sector,” Ah Long replied as he chuckled to himself. “My father died of illness because we had no money to treat him, and the same could happen to my mother too. When I first came to Special District 9, I was a good-for-nothing and I lived off the scraps of the neighbors. Now that I have some ability, I thought that I should pull them up a little while earning a bit of money. It’s not as if those in our line of trade live long anyway. I just need to earn enough for me to survive each day.”

Having come to this juncture, it was meaningless for Ah Long to lie anymore. Qin Yu looked at the man who used to have such a repulsive face to him, and all of a sudden, he didn’t think that the latter was that reprehensible anymore.

The two of them fell silent for a moment.

Qin Yu’s heart was in a turmoil at the moment. He had proceeded so carefully, but he was unable to see through the layers of complexities lying beneath Songjiang.

Guangdang!

During the moment of silence between the two of them, the doors to the interrogation room suddenly opened.

Qi Lin was standing by the door with a smile on his face, “You are in the midst of an interrogation?”

On the metal chair, Ah Long immediately looked up upon hearing Qi Lin’s voice, and a hint of shock finally appeared on his lackadaisical expression.

“What are you doing here?” Qin Yu turned around and asked.

“I came here to ask if the equipment you have borrowed can still be returned to the storage. What is the degree of damage?” Qi Lin replied with a steady tone. “You’ll probably be spending the whole night working here, but I’ll have to change shifts tomorrow morning, and I need to get the report done by then.’

“Ah, I see,” Qin Yu nodded as he stood up. “The damage is quite substantial. I’ll get my men to write you a list later on.”

“Alright,” Qi Lin nodded before glancing over at Ah Long. “Your carefree days are finally at an end, huh?”

Ah Long was still in a stunned state. Beads of sweat had begun forming on his forehead.

“He’ll be transferred over to the Third Prison, right?” Qi Lin turned to Qin Yu and asked casually.

“Un, he’ll be transferred after the interrogation,” Qin Yu replied with a nod.

“You fucker. I nearly got screwed because of you!” Qi Lin looked at Ah Long with a chilling look on his face. “You just wait. Once you step out of here, I’ll get someone to take good care of you.”

Qin Yu couldn’t help but think that there was something weird with those words.

Ah Long took a moment before he came back to his senses, and he berated with a domineering tone, “Who the hell do you think you are? I might be here, but I still have plenty of brothers out there. If you mess around with me, who do you think will take care of your family?”

“Heh, just wait and see,” Qi Lin sneered coldly. Then, he turned to Qin Yu and said, “Take care of him. I’ll be leaving first.”

Qin Yu stared at Qi Lin for a very long while before replying, “I’ll go with you. Let me settle the list of equipment first.”

“Ah, let’s go then,” Qi Lin replied calmly.

The two of them left the interrogation room together. Four armed policemen on duty immediately walked over to guard the entrance. One of them locked the metal door.

Walking along the narrow yet long corridor, Qi Lin tucked his hand behind his back as he said with a smile, “You could have just gotten someone else to write me a list. You’re already a squad leader now, there’s no need for you to settle such stuff yourself.”

But Qin Yu suddenly turned around and asked, “You came to scout the area?”

Qi Lin froze on the spot. With a stiff look on his face, he asked back, “What do you mean? Scout the area?”

“You already knew Ah Long before this?” Qin Yu asked with a livid expression on his face.

“B-bullshit! How would I know someone like him?”

“Ah Long told me that he knew me through a friend, but the only ones whom I’m closer with in the Police Bureau are Old Cat and you. As for the rest, we’re merely colleagues,” Qin Yu looked at Qi Lin with a sharp glint in his eyes. “You were already acting unnaturally back at the canteen, and earlier in the interrogation room, you spoke a little too much to Ah Long.”

“Aren’t you getting too stressed from trying to crack the case?” Qi Lin replied with a slight chuckle. “I think you are getting a little too skeptical over here.”

“You want to save him. You came to the interrogation room not to get the list of equipment but to scout the area, right?”

“Qin Yu, I think that you’re…”

Pah!

Before Qi Lin could finish speaking, Qin Yu suddenly reached out to touch Qi Lin’s waist, and the latter instinctively backed away. With a pale face, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“You usually lock your gun in the cupboard during your shifts, so why is it in your holster now?” Qin Yu asked as he grabbed Qi Lin’s arm. With an even lowered voice, he whispered harshly, “Are you bloody out of your mind? He’s a dead man! You’ll die if you try anything!”

Qi Lin looked around in a fluster before turning to Qin Yu with reddened eyes, “If you still think of me as a friend, just treat it as if you don’t know anything, alright?”

“I wouldn’t even bother if it was anyone else! Do you get that you are already a married man? Just what is your relationship with Ah Long that you need to go this far for him?” Qin Yu was getting a little agitated as well.

He pulled Qi Lin over to the stairway before continuing on, “I know that there’s something you are hiding from me, and I won’t probe any further either. However, I can tell you with certainty that even if there are another ten of you here, there’s no way you’ll be able to get him out of here. You’ll die if you dare make a move here!”

…

In the interrogation room.

Ah Long was still recalling the words that Qi Lin told him.

You just wait. Once you step out of here, I’ll get someone to take good care of you.

It was clear as the day to him what those words meant. Qi Lin was thinking of saving him!

But that fellow didn’t have any backing that could help him settle this matter. Given so, it was obvious what he was going to resort to—he would take him away by force once he was out of the Police Bureau!

Thinking up to this point, Ah Long clenched his hands tightly together as he muttered beneath his breath, “Damn it, that idiot wouldn’t really mess around, would he?”

…

Over at the main hall of the Police Bureau, a series of flurried footsteps sounded as Superintendent Li and Yuan Ke walked in from the main entrance.

“Platoon Commander Yuan, you’re back! I was looking for you!” Suu Ang walked over with widened strides.

“What’s wrong?” Yuan Ke asked.